(2017-0035-F) Anthony Lake, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), and Arms Shipments to Bosnia

The materials in FOIA 2017-0035-F are a selective body of documents responsive to the topic of the FOIA. Researchers should see FOIA Requests 2006-0996-F and 2013-0687-F for related material. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request 2017-0035-F was for records pertaining to National Security Advisor Anthony Lake, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), and arms shipments to Bosnia. Specifically, the requester asked for 2 letters sent by the SSCI to Anthony Lake in 1996 and all documents delivered to the SSCI pertaining to their formal inquiry into Iranian and other arms shipments to Bosnia during the Bosnian War. This collection includes letters sent to and from Anthony Lake, SSCI Chairman Arlen Specter, and SSCI Vice Chairman Bob Kerrey pertaining to the Bosnia arms shipments inquiry. It includes the SSCI’s published final report, Department of State press briefing transcripts and press guidance in response to news media reports of Iranian arms shipments into Bosnia, National Security Council (NSC) emails related to press guidance and legislative updates on the SSCI inquiry, and newspaper articles pertaining to weapons shipments to Bosnia. A significant portion of the records in this collection were found in the staff and office files of James E. Baker, who was Deputy Legal Advisor to the National Security Council from 1994-1997 and Legal Advisor to the NSC from 1997-2000. As early as September 1992, news media sources reported on Iranian military aid and arms shipments in support of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s conflict against Yugoslavia-backed Republika Srpska forces. In 1995 and 1996, more news reports surfaced claiming that the Clinton Administration secretly permitted shipments of Iranian weapons into Bosnia in violation of the United Nations arms embargo. In April 1996, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence began a formal inquiry into arms shipments to Bosnia by requesting documents and testimony from the Department of Defense, Department of State, Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Council, Attorney General, and Intelligence Oversight Board. Anthony Lake served as National Security Advisor from 1993-1997 and was a key figure in the SSCI’s inquiry. In November 1996, the SSCI released a report on their findings, which detailed problematic miscommunications between Executive Branch officials and Congress regarding arms shipments to Bosnia and U.S. foreign policy decisions. The majority of these records related to this FOIA case are closed for national security reasons.